April 2013 – Page 2 – Karla's Cottage

In the Guncles’ Garden and some travel woes

By Karla Nathan / April 7, 2013

On my trip to Florida, I didn't even make it anywhere near a beach. As much as I love staring at the ocean, on a quick trip, I'm so happy at the Guncle's house I don't even remember that the Atlantic is nearby.

Their home and garden are so inviting, and they are so welcoming, it's a joy to be there and part of their little family.

After the cold Feb. and March we've had in KS, I was happy just to see some sunshine. While I was there, it was snowing up a blizzard back home. I thought my timing was great for the trip when I heard that. Originally, I had planned to go home on Sunday, but there was such a huge difference in ticket prices, that I changed it to Monday to help out Karen, who was gifting me with the ticket.

And it snowed at home on Sunday, so I thought I'd made the right choice, I had a craft day with Guncle Randy and some time to hug the doggies.

But the snow caused major airline delays on Monday too. I sat at the Jacksonville airport for hours before it was confirmed that I was not getting home that night. My cold had turned into a pounder of a sinus infection and I wanted my own bed more than anything else.

The guncles are the best hosts ever, but I needed to get home somehow and if I stayed overnight again in Jacksonville, I wouldn't be able to catch a flight till the next evening, plus the guys would have to work, so I wouldn't even see them till time to catch a ride to the airport.

Normally, I am pretty tough. But I think, being sick for a few days away from home and trying to pretend I wasn't sick through all the social activities that were too fun to miss, had worn me down. I am embarrassed to say that I called my husband crying when I found out I was stuck at the airport.

What a big baby.

And of course, tears do NOT make a sinus problem feel any better. The pounding became a steady wallopping.

So, my husband got online and found the quickest route home, through nashville, away from the snowy places, then early the next morning, back to KS and home by 8:30 am. He arranged a hotel and shuttle for me too, and I felt much better.

Now, all that is stuff I could do myself with no trouble, but it was sweet for him to take over and take care of me. It's sure nice to have someone who cares enough to take charge when you are down.

And it doesn't hurt to let someone take care of you sometimes. As moms or grammies we tend to always be the ones who take care of everyone else, don't we?

Mt. Dora

celebrations, guncles, Travel

By Karla Nathan / April 5, 2013

What is more fun than a barrel of monkeys? A weekend with a guncle! Throw in some talented crafty friends, a trip to a favorite city and nothing can compare.

Our craft day was Friday, and all day Saturday was shopping at a downtown art and antique fair. Sadly, it didn't measure up to our expectations, but we had a blast anyway.

And our first stop was a good one. Judy, the Birthday Girl, had a booth at Annabelle's. This is her fairy crown and it was lovely.

We all found something we wanted to buy at Annabelle's.

Karen has a booth there and at a glance you know exactly whose spot it is. You can see her touch on everything.

Before shopping, we checked out a fruit laden tree growing by Karen's porch. I didn't know what it was, but it smelled and looked tasty. I broke one open and tried it, probably not a smart thing to do, not knowing what it was. I guessed kumquat, but Randy told us it was a loquat, so I was close. And man, was it delicious. Kind of peachy.

Before Randy let us know it was safe, I asked everyone to watch me for signs of poisoning. But I was fine, of course, just a little sticky.

I'm very impatient for our Food Forest to start producing. I adore all the fresh fruit growing in Florida and can't resist picking it any time I can. At the Guncle's they have lemon and oranges too. But there were only a few oranges left at the top of the tree and shaking it did no good.

I was able to get some French lemons from Karen and some non French, regular lemons from Randy. I'm not sure what the diff is. But all will soon be lemonade and pie.

We ate lunch at a tea room in Mt Dora that I thought was pretty durn good until we went for a walk and visited THIS tea room.

WOW.

(yep, my eyes are closed in the photo)

I was ready to make myself at home and stay there forever. But of course, I was going to the Guncle's that night, so I was ok about leaving after all. They are wonderful hosts, just like Karen was. I'll have pics of their warm, welcoming home next.

Hoppy Easter

Dew Drop, family, holiday decor, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / April 3, 2013

Did you have a good Easter? Ours was unexpectedly really nice.From no plans at all to a small family dinner and egg hunt in a matter of an afternoon.

Sugarwing's mom ended up switching her plans, so we had our fairy grand child over night and all day. Dewdrop came over with her mom at dinner time, and we were able to find buckets full of eggs on the Fairy Berry Trail as the sun was setting.

And what beautiful weather we had! I'd thought I'd finish the banner I am working on for the Snow White blast coming up way too soon, but instead, I ran and played with Sugarwings all day and enjoyed the sunshine.

I was able to do some yard clean up too, and foofed the Fairy Berry Trail up for the season. Easter seems to be the time that we whip it into shape, just in time for hunting eggs the bunny left there.

Funny, how fast two little girls can find over 50 eggs. This was a quick run through the forest, with lots of squealing along the way. Dewdrop let out a yelp every time she spied an egg. And everything is a squealfest around Sugarwings anyway.

Luckily, I had plenty of plastic eggs up in the closet and could find packets of tiny toys and junky fun crap to stuff in them for our impromtu hunt.

Although, the few pieces of chocolate I had on hand were the biggest hits when the eggs were open, of course. But, I do think that if there was nothing in them at all, it wouldn't have dampened the fun.

The thrill of the hunt was the best part.

Dewdrop loved every minute of it. She is a cute age to be out in the woods gathering eggs.

She enjoyed the dying too, although it didn't last long because she thought it was just as much fun to pour the dye out on the ground as it was to dip the eggs in. But they had plenty of glitter paints to add to the eggs once the dirt under the table was dyed.

We sat up the mini picnic table in the gazebo and I turned the kids loose with dyes and glitters.

Which was a great plan, considering that everyone had been playing outside and there was a bit of mud from the gardening project clinging to them. Plus, Dewdrop's fascination with pouring out the dye worked better out doors than it would have inside.

I'll have more photos from the Mt. Dora trip after this little break for some Happy Easter wishes.

A surprise craft day for Judy

celebrations, fairies, guncles

By Karla Nathan / April 1, 2013

Our visit to Karen's doll house was such a magical time.

The weather cooperated and was ideal, lots of sparkling sunlight. While blizzards blew at home in Kansas!

Here I am with Sherry and Karen on the porch of the Kozy Kottage. This is Karen's get away in Mt. Dora, and is as girlified as any retreat can be. Pinks, whites, roses, pretties, all twinkling and sparkling in a joyous petite doll house.

Guncle Randy and I had a bit of trouble finding it, because the GPS took us to another pink and white house a block or so away. (who knew there would be so many pink houses with white picket fences on one street??)

No one answered the door there, so we got out, walked around, and called Karen to leave a message and say we'd be back soon. Then, left my piles of craft supplies and kits on the porch to save bringing it back later.

As we drove off and around the corner, I spied another pink and white house.

hmmmm…

I told Randy that I thought just maybe, we should turn around and go get my stuff off of the other home's porch!

No one had opened my boxes and created bird cages while we were gone, so all was fine.

I'd brought tons of goodies for the ladies to go through and make as many fairies as they wanted and cloche/cage for the little sprites to live in when done.

We spent the afternoon at Karen's dining table twisting wire and gluing away as we chatted.

It was a fun group, we had the birthday girl, Judy, and her daughter-in-law who was part of the big surprise Karen had planned for Judy.

One of my best friends, Sherry had driven down from Georgia, and Casandra was there from a nearby Florida town. I've always wanted to meet her. And she is every bit as nice as you'd expect her to be.

Guncle Randy met up with me in Orlando, where I flew in. He was there to receive yet another, Top Sales Director of the Year award from Hilton. I was very proud of him!

Karen scooped me up at the airport for a day of junking, while Randy was busy accepting his trophy. She showed me some good places to shop in Orlando and was lucky enough to find a few florally hats to tear apart that night at the Hilton while I waited for Randy.

We all made these fairy cloche/bird cages, and I think they turned out sweet.

We will be doing a version of this again at Birdsong. Karen and Sherry will both be coming to visit me in June for that, so looks like they will be starting a collection, huh?

After we were done, we walked downtown to dinner. And then, weren't quite ready for the party to end, so we kept working till after midnight on projects.

My only regret (besides the fact that I probably passed my awful cold onto everyone) is that I didn't get to jump out of a giant cake for the surprise. I was hoping for strawberry.